Kent Bush: McCain sheds maverick image, focuses on experience

Kent Bush

Monday

Sep 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2008 at 8:10 AM

The maverick has fallen back in line. Gone are the arguments for change and reform. Friday night, Republican candidate John McCain took on issues of foreign policy by relying on his decades of experience in Congress.

The maverick has fallen back in line.

Gone are the arguments for change and reform. Friday night, Republican candidate John McCain took on issues of foreign policy by relying on his decades of experience in Congress.

Only once did he cite his “maverick” persona. Many times he pointed out his experience and wisdom in handling foreign policy matters.

McCain was reeling coming into the debate. He suspended his campaign to head back to Washington, D.C., to help broker a deal to bail out the struggling financial institutions that threaten to inflict grave damage on the American economy if they are allowed to melt under the heat of raw capitalism.

He said there would be no debate without a deal in place. But the presence of the two campaigners-in-chief at the negotiations did little to help the process along.

So with no deal in place, McCain was forced to drop his demand for a deal to be reached prior to the debate. Instead he vowed to fly back to D.C. after the debate if necessary – the plan offered by his opponent in the first place.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama fought off McCain’s accusations that he had the most liberal voting record of any member of the Senate.

“Mostly that's just me opposing George Bush's wrong-headed policies,” Obama said. The senator from Illinois then fired a shot at McCain as being a supporter of President George W. Bush for eight years and being complicit in supporting the policies that led the economy into peril.

It was at that point that McCain tried to resurrect the idea of his maverick mentality.

“I have opposed the president on spending, on climate change, on torture of prisoners, on Guantanamo Bay, on a long -- on the way that the Iraq war was conducted. I have a long record and the American people know me very well ... a maverick of the Senate,” McCain said.

Obama tried to win voter confidence on foreign policy issues by telling McCain that his votes in 2003 to support the war in Iraq were wrong. He accused his opponent of pretending the war began in 2007.

But McCain pointed out that Obama likes to ignore the facts that the latest moves in Iraq have been successful and could lead to a successful withdrawal of troops from the region soon.

The two are scheduled for two more debates, at Belmont University in Nashville on Oct. 7 and at Hofstra University in Hempsted, N.Y., on Oct. 15. Vice presidential contenders Sarah Palin and Joe Biden are to square off in a single debate Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Vice Squad

Sarah Palin and Joe Biden continued to confuse voters as to why either was added to the ticket of a major party this week.

Palin was released from her seclusion to sit down for an interview with Katie Couric – not exactly the hardest-hitting news anchor on the airwaves. But somehow Palin made Couric look like Edward R. Murrow eviscerating a credulous political hack.

A question about the pending Congressional bailout plan left Palin stammering. She pointed out that the bailout was important to people interested in health care reform and said it was really all about job creation.

Then she concluded with, “So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans and trade — we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as competitive, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today — we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity.”

Palin referenced her notes on this one and worked in one or two words from each line in a patchwork quilt of an answer that left Couric’s jaw on the floor and mind racing to figure out if what Palin had said had been idiocy or genius. Unfortunately, there were no nuggets of brilliance buried in there.

But Biden failed to capitalize on the opportunity to blast his opponent. He had a meeting with the president of Georgia on Friday.

Like Palin, he banished the press from his face to face with the embattled world leader.

But his visit wasn’t like Palin’s beyond the lack of media presence.

No one told Biden he was gorgeous or said they knew why Americans are so smitten with him – for good reason. Also, no one from the press even seemed to want access to the meeting or cared that no one was allowed in.

Obama’s campaign was not accused of being sexist for hiding Biden from the press. No one threatened not to cover the meeting if a certain level of access were not granted.

Biden simply had his secret meeting, emerged from the hotel conference room, waved to reporters and hit the road.

After a week of gaffes, Biden needed a secret meeting.

Somewhere, Dan Quayle is laughing quietly to himself. He may not know how to spell potato(e), but Quayle would compare favorably to either one of the running mates this year.

Both presidential candidates looked good and performed well at their first meeting Friday night.

The vice presidential debate won’t likely go as smoothly.

Augusta Gazette

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Waynesboro Record Herald - Waynesboro, PA ~ 30 Walnut St. Waynesboro, PA 17268 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service